Top tips for developing central defenders of the future
- The Boot Room
- 27 January 2021
A group of coaches who took part in an FA Learning webinar to discuss what central defenders of the future might look like, provide their top tips for how coaches can best prepare their players for a key role at the back.
Keith Downing, former England men's U20 head coach, Emma Coates, England women's U19 head coach, Chris Sulley, FA youth coach developer, and Andy Edwards, England men's assistant head coach U18-U20, offered detailed insight and key considerations for coaches. Here are some of their top tips and recommendations to help you develop your players’ defensive skills and explain what players need to do to play in the centre of defence.
The webinar, ‘Developing central defenders of the future’, can be viewed in full at the bottom of this article.
Develop decision-making skills
A wrong decision by a central defender could leave their team exposed at the back. As players are confronted with numerous situations in a game, deciding when to press an opponent or drop off can make the difference. So, it’s important for players to have good decision-making skills when playing at the back.
Keith Downing: The decision-making is constant; when to squeeze, when to engage, when to delay, and it's now about 1v1 defending. For me, it’s a really important position because it's right in front of the goal, it's next to the goalkeeper. You have to be clear and composed in that area.
Emma Coates: I think the big thing we're trying to look at now is how the centre-back has that confidence to protect the area between the defence and midfield and go and step in or defend the space behind, thinking about whether they’re under pressure or not and all the decisions around that, but also be confident doing that 1v1 as well.
There's a huge trend in the women's game that everyone plays with a front three. So, centre-halves are rarely exposed to playing against a front two or that player that's between the lines and having players who can deal with that, I think makes a real difference.
Be comfortable going into wide areas Space can open up when there’s a change in possession; therefore, the modern centre-back needs to be comfortable covering when transition happens. Defenders may find themselves pulled out wide, so it’s important for players to get used to dealing with these situations to successfully delay or deny the opposition.
Keith Downing: You're seeing more modern-day centre-backs that can deal in those exposed areas by stepping in. When your team's high up the field; it's about anticipation, organising people in front of you for the transition and positioning where you're marking people. Are you the correct side of the ball so any ball that comes, you're able to engage and make the correct decision?
It’s also having that ability to deal, not just in front of you, but laterally as well; getting across to be able to deal in the channel areas if the ball goes out there. I think the modern-day centre-back is now becoming a little bit more suitable to going into those difficult areas and being able to deal with that 1v1 confrontation.
Emma Coates: Sometimes they seem to be a little bit reluctant to step out into those wide areas, in case they're exposed. I think that's an area where, if we can get braver centre-halves that can prioritise danger, as well as understanding cover, balance and recovery to shape, then that might give us that confidence to start excelling in that area.
Play in different positions No one knows for sure what level a player will go on to compete at or even what position they will end up in. Because of this, early specialisation could halt your players’ progress and enjoyment. Letting them experience playing in different positions, particularly when they’re young, can help them develop key skills to help them on their journey.
Chris Sulley: I've been doing some research into this, and it’s obvious that people are coming from other positions on the pitch. If we look back, players like Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher and Colin Hendry all started as strikers. Even the modern-day fullbacks played in other positions.
I think the big take-home message for me is, give these kids a chance in another position. If they show an attitude to want to defend, then you might find a gem. It seems that it's a necessary part of the journey to learn the game.
An essential part of being a centre-back is to read the game and get into positions early. Maybe playing elsewhere up the pitch, to start with, also gives you that library of information you can draw on when the game is in front of you, because the further up the pitch you go, it's all around you, it's a completely different game. But when the game is all in front of you, it all makes sense.
Certainly, that was my journey, I started as a left winger, and ended up as a left-back, and it all seemed so much easier when the game was all in front of me.
Tailor your sessions Training is where you can help your players work on these top tips, but it’s important to remember that, to be effective, your sessions need to be realistic and replicate the game. That way you have a better chance of players improving their skills and understanding of the game – which will allow them to develop instinctive actions they can then rely on during matchday.
Andy Edwards: Make sure that your training is realistic, in terms of, for me, centre-backs develop on big spaces, big areas. I think you can have a small-sided game, or you can have 11v11 - I’ve seen it on a 30x30 pitch, great tempo, some really good technical ability, it challenges you in possession.
But, have you really challenged your centre-backs? Because their biggest fear whether they’re quick or slow, is the space in behind, or it’s that centre-forward dropping into the space between the lines. So, I think how you design your session to develop centre-backs is a really important part of that.
Keith Downing: I think there's also a lot to be said about outnumbering exercises, putting defenders under increased pressure in 2v1s, 3v2s, 4v3s. Maybe even your back four against six attackers. It forces them to make these critical decisions under stress.
Don't just make them small-sided games because it's easy to recover or easy to get there. They have to make judgments in terms of the full pitch, exposed 2v1s in bigger areas and then use that decision to make play predictable, to send the opposition wide and to delay the attacks.
Article image courtesy of Catherine Ivill/Getty Images.
